How to play Black Ops Cold War Zombies for free

Andrew Highton
bocw zombies free access

Treyarch has officially confirmed that Black Ops Cold War’s Zombies mode will have a free Access Week on PlayStation and Xbox consoles and Battle.net. Meaning anyone who hasn’t bought the new CoD yet will be able to sample the game’s Die Maschine at no cost.

Black Ops Cold War’s newest take on Nazi Zombies is pretty darn fun. With a refined Perk system and a big, varied map, Die Maschine is full of action and drama, making for a great Zombies mode.

Not everyone will know this of course because they haven’t acquired BOCW, but that will change imminently with the Free Access trial to try it out, courtesy of Treyarch.

mystery box in cod bocw zombies mode

BOCW Zombies Free Access Week

If you’ve been skeptical about investing your hard-earned money into Black Ops Cold War, then this will be a great trial run for you.

Activision has now officially announced the details on the Free Zombies Access Week in a new blog post on the Call of Duty website.

The blog post states that all players, can access the Zombies mode via Black Ops Cold War for free. This includes the new Cranked game mode, and for PlayStation players, Onslaught mode is free. The event begins January 14 at 10AM PT and ends January 21.

For the first time in Call of Duty history, Treyarch’s legendary Zombies mode will be available for free through the Zombies Free Access Week.

This fearsome free access period will be available to all players through their respective platform’s store.

Free Trial Content

Die Maschine

An abandoned WWII-era laboratory in Poland containing a massive particle collider has opened a rift to unexplainable monstrosities and animated undead forces. As part of the international response team known as Requiem, you’ll infiltrate the DZ and try to survive waves of zombies through multiple rounds as you either uncover the secrets of “Die Maschine,” or exfiltrate early with your life intact (and some great rewards to boot).

With its starting area paying homage to the original World at War Zombies map that started it all, “Die Maschine” is a round-based Zombies experience where up to four players can drop in and attempt to survive the horrors that lie in wait. Work together by using dozens of weapons, lethal and tactical equipment, powerful Scorestreaks, and special Field Upgrades – such as an Energy Mine or an instant-heal through the Healing Aura – that charge up by killing zombies.

Unlocked some new Black Ops Cold War weapons via the Battle Pass system? Bring them into the fight through your starting loadout and upgrade them along the way. You can also outfit yourself with a variety of Wall Buy weapons, take a chance with a random weapon pulled from the Mystery Box, or give any weapon a serious boost through the Pack-a-Punch Machine.

Cranked

Need a bit more urgency to stay alive in “Die Maschine,” outside of being overwhelmed by waves of zombies? Give Cranked a try.

As per usual, you and your squad will be airlifted in with a loadout of your choice. However, once the first zombie hits the floor, the Cranked Timer starts ticking away. Your Operator will explode if they fail to kill another zombie before the timer hits zero, and the timer gets shorter and shorter as the game progresses! Keep an eye out for the Cranked Timer Power-up, which temporarily freezes the timer for all players.

Watch the clock – and your six – to survive this fast-paced new Zombies game mode… and be sure to put the locational Ping system to use when playing with your squad.

Onslaught (PlayStation Exclusive*)

Those who play on PlayStation can also access Onslaught, the fast-paced new two-player Zombies experience on Black Ops Cold War’s Multiplayer maps.

In this mode, your duo will use whatever is in your loadouts to fight against hyper-aggressive waves of undead forces. Unlike in traditional round-based Zombies, a Dark Aether Orb will confine you to a specific space on the map until it is charged by the souls of the undead.

As the safe area shifts, expect increasingly difficult surges of enemies, including incredibly powerful Elites, to test your duo’s survival skills. Slay enough of these Elites, and you’ll earn special Bronze, Silver, or Gold rankings and exclusive* Weapon Blueprints.

How to download

To download it, you’ll need to go to the Official Store of your platform you’re playing on, search for it, and download it when it becomes available on January 14. The item will be called “Black Ops Cold War Zombies Free Access.”

The direct links to download:

So if you haven’t already bought Black Ops Cold War, then hopefully you’ll give it a go and see what the game’s Die Maschine mode can offer you.

The game’s online multiplayer recently had a free Access Week with free multiplayer before Christmas to obviously try and squeeze out a few more sales before the big holiday season. The new Free Access doesn’t include the online multiplayer, but you’ll be able to slay as many zombies as you want!

About The Author

A content creator for Charlie INTEL / Dexerto that earned a degree, wrote for PlusXP, Twinfinite, and Keengamer, before finally securing his dream job of being a professional video game writer. When not writing about games, he's very busy playing every game in existence and adding to his 11,000+ PlayStation Trophies and 150+ Platinums. You can contact him at [email protected].